Page Line 81, 30. Prémontré, near Laon (Aisne), was the "head" of a cele brated order of Canons following St. Augustine's rule' and dating from 1120, having a great many branches in France and Germany. 82, 9. Salines, salt-pits. 15. Parler longtemps de suite, make a set speech. 83, 13. Subit, sudden; this adjective is pleonastic after tout à coup. 21. Marcs; the marc was an eight-ounce weight used in weighing gold and silver, and was equal to half a pound in Paris; hence Cinq-Marcs = quarante onces (1.24). 22. Centurie, prediction. This name was given to popular prediction arranged in 100 verses of four or six lines, and also to each of those verses. 22. Nostradamus. Michel de Nostredame, called Nostradamus, was a Jewish physician and celebrated astrologer (born at St.-Remi, in Provence, in 1503), whose prophecies enjoyed the greatest success, and who was much in favour with Catherine of Medicis and her son, Charles IX.; he died in 1566. One of his sons, Michel, called Nostradamus le jeune, tried also to prophesy, but his predictions always turning false, he resolved to make sure of one by predicting the destruction of the little town of Pouzin, in Provence, to which he set fire himself; he was caught in the act, and massacred in 1574. 23. Bonnet-rouge, red hat; i.e., the Cardinal. 24. Quarante onces= Cinq-Marcs, i.e., Cinq-Mars. 25. Tout, i.e., de Thou, which is pronounced like tout. 84, 7. Elle chasserait ses gens, she would send away her servants. 8. I, there (impersonal verb). 12. Franchise intempestive, inopportune candour. 18. Assez fort dans cette partie, very expert in those things. 23. Recette, recipe. 85, 11. Vous le voulez? That is your determination? Page Line 85, 17. Vieille franchise, ancient freedom. 26. Les violons, (familiarly) the piper. 28. Se battre, to fight. Note that battre is an active verb requiring a direct object, in the absence of which the reflexive voice must be used. We have, however, the phrases: Le tambour bat on bat le tambour; le cœur bat; le fer de ce cheval bat, i.e., commence à se détacher; les métiers de la fabrique battent, i.e., sont en activité. We say also, deux tons battent, quand après avoir été dissonants, ils viennent à s'accorder. CHAPTER XXI. 86, 5. LEWIS, Le Moine. "The Monk is the best-known of the novels of Matthew Gregory Lewis (1773-1818), the friend of Sir Walter Scott and of Byron, a goodnatured effeminate man of fashion, with a lively and childish imagination. The Monk, full of horrible crimes and diabolic agency, contains several passages of great power, but owes its popularity chiefly to the licentious warmth of many of its scenes." (Shaw's English Literature) 16. Saint-Eustache, one of the most admired of Parisian churches, near the Halles centrales, built in the sixteenth century on the site of a chapel dating from 1213. 19. Bornes, corner-stones. 87, 2. Duzé di duché de. 3. Ze je (the Italian lisping pronunciation of French). 12. Sonné, struck. 13. Sonne, tolls. 21. Poulets, a familiar term for love-letters, probably so-called because they were folded so as to figure the wings of a fowl. 22. Fariboles, nonsense, frivolities. 26. Caro amico, my dear friend. E8, 3. Amore, qui regna amore! here rules true love! i.e., that is love indeed. 5. Fais volte-face, turn round, i.e., be off. 8. Turena, Touraine. 9. Miei occhi (neri) noirs, my black (roguish) eyes. 10. Tais-toi, bavarde! hush, babbling girl. 11. N'est bon qu'aux baladins et aux danseurs de corde, is only fit for buffoons and mountebanks. On baladin M. Page Line Littré remarks, "Il vaudrait mieux écrire ainsi que dans le XVIe siècle, dans la rère edition du Dictionnaire de l'Académie et dans Furetière, ce mot par deux ll comme ballade (=chanson à danser), baller (=danser, now obsolete), auxquels il tient. On ne voit pas pour quoi l'orthographe a été changée." 88, 15. Uomo = homme. (Instead of using an Italian noun with a French adjective, we say with the Italians galantuomo, or in French galant homme) 15. Laura (1307-1348), immortalised by Petrarch (1304-1374), who, having first seen her, two years after her marriage with Hugues de Sade, muncipal magistrate of Avignon (1327), conceived for her a hopeless love, which he exhaled in his inimitable poems, even after her death, and to which passion he remained faithful until his own death. She died of the plague, leaving eleven children. 29. Un bruit rauque, a sort of chuckling noise. 30. Rive où Laure, &c. Compare the following poetical rendering: "Gay joyous blooms, and herbage glad with showers, O'er which my pensive fair is wont to stray Thou plain, that listest her melodious lay As her fair feet imprint thy waste of flowers !" 89, 1. Gentil, pretty. This word expresses whatever is pleasing in a person or thing, and is sometimes used ironically. 2. Casal (Casale), an ancient fortified town in Sardinia, formerly the capital of Montferrat, on the Po, pop. 20,000; where the French defeated the Spaniards in 1640, and which was kept by France from 1681 to 1706. 9. Ombrose selve, &c. In the sonnet the following lines are "Schietti arboscelli, e verdi frondi acerbe, The sonnet ends thus: "Che bagni'l suo bel viso e gli occhi chiari, Compare the following rendering: "Ye shrubs so trim; ye green unfolding bowers Page Line O pleasant country! O translucent stream! 89, 11. Hom!... (Exclamation exprimant le mécontentement.) (Littré.) 90, 4. Abbé, priest (see note on p. 23, l. 4, vol. i.). 6. A cela près de l'autorité, except that his authority was neither acknowledged nor obeyed. 9. La lampe perpétuelle. In Roman Catholic churches, the consecrated wafer (hostie) is kept at all times in the tabernacie on the altar, before which one or several lamps perpetually burn to symbolise the prayers and adoration of believers in the Real Presence of our Lord in the consecrated elements. 11. Bénitiers, holy-water pillar urns or basins, placed near 18. De chaque côté, on each side. Confessionals must have 27. Celle, the one (l'une is only used pronominally when l'autre 28. Eprouver, to try. 91, 2. Se garantir de, help feeling. 4. Qu'i, a misprint for qui. 19. A dix huit ans (Marie de Mantoue was much older than eighteen in 1642). 23. Ce caractère, that temper, disposition. 28. Celle, her (elle can only be used after a preposition as the indirect object of a verb). 30. Légèreté, levity, thoughtlessness. 32. Que j'ai peur ! How frightened I am! 34. Gens, servants. 92, 23. A, misprinted for d. 93, 22. De vous délier, to free you. 94, 3. Le grand jour les éclairera, they will be in broad day light. 12. Anneau nuptial, engagement ring (literally, wedding ring, but the rest of the phrase proves that it is only an engagement ring). = 13. Qu'elle que si elle. Page Line 95, 3. Nous-mêmes, each other (literally, ourselves). 5. Que...triste, how sad, painful. 10. Se faisait instruire, inquired into, heard. 96, 12. Par pitié, for pity's sake. 97, 3. Lûchez-le, let him go. 21. Ils m'ont attaché les mains, they have bound my hands. CHAPTER XXII. 99. 3. Le fer relevé, the turned-up shoe. 5. Chaussure de corde, hemp shoe. 6. Trèfle, trident (literally, trefoil). 14. Gammes, gamut. 17. Et ne respecte que, with the only exception of. 23. Isards chamois. This name is given to the Antelope Chamois of the Pyrenees. 26. Corbeaux et de corneilles, crows and rooks. 28. Colombiers, dove-cots. 29. Velue, hairy. 31. Frimas, frost, winter. 33. Contrebandier, smuggler. 100, 19. Je n'y vois pas, I am quite in the dark, I cannot see my way; USED ABSOLUTELY, voir REQUIRES y. Note the expression: il n'y voit goutte=il n'y voit point; voir double; voir mal; voir distinctement, confusément ; voir clair, which is better than y voir clair, though both are used. Some grammarians distinguish between ne voir goutte, to be blind, and n'y voir goutte, to be in utter darkness. In Old French the first person was written je voi, and it remains so in poetry when the rhyme requires it, not as a license, but as an archaism. Ex.: 101, Sans doute il est sacré, ce livre dont je voi L. RACINE: Religion, c. iii. 31. Nous sommes tournés, we are turned (they are coming 7. Averti! forewarned, forearmed! (a bad shot!) |